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Friday, March 1, 2013

Millionaire Asia (Mar Issue)

By: Grace Lai

Joey Yap believes that everybody can be successful. "Every single one of them can be successful. I don't think anyone is born to be poor, suffer and live in misery. It's up to you to live your life. You decide whether you want to change your life," he asserted. This man, who at the very young age of 26 became a self-made millionaire, believes that success is not what you have. It is, in his words, "who you become". "Be a better vision of yourself. Don't be trapped by your destiny," he added.

His feats run a mile long and celebrated as he is, there is no need for a repeat of his resume. One thing he is very clear on is that he does not predict the future. "I am not a fortune teller. This subject has always been shrouded in mystery when in fact it's very basic and not as complicated as people think. I look at charts, at a person's destiny and find the options that allow that person to be the most successful he or she can be. In consultations, I tell you your option and show you the path. It is then up to you to take the steps and follow the path to your success."

Debunking "fortune telling"

"Predicting the future is divination. We don't do that. We make an intelligent decision based on options we look for from a person's "Ba Zi" (Ba Zi, 八字, Eight Characters, is a sophisticated art based largely on the Chinese five-element theory, allowing one to investigate the potential and mysteries of a person's life using his or her birth data) and charts. It's about life transformation and looking for the key to change in one's life," Joey shared. Taking MillionaireAsia's ultra high net worth readers as an example, Joey said, "Wealthy people are very often successful. Why? It's because they make sure that all risks are taken into consideration and calculated. That's what we do. We calculate risks and present the best option suitable for a specific individual at that specific time. People think that this is a very special field; they think it's difficult to learn. It's exactly the same as any other."

"Talents are gifts and they can be discovered early in life or later in life. It requires training, honing, improving and transferring. It's about discovery and development. To become good at Feng Shui is not about talent. It's about interest and the purpose of that interest. Some people are just intrigued in Feng Shui. My interest in it was a life transformation. I wanted to use it as a tool to transform lives and make a difference."

Joey admits that his parents were not too keen on his choice of career initially. "Like any parents, mine did not start off supporting my decision. The reason being their perception of Feng Shui. They believed that this was not a professional or respectable field and did not want me associated with such a field."

Success and achieving it

"Everybody wants to be successful. They all want to be rich, have a good figure or be healthy, but they do not and often, are not, willing to do what it takes to be that. People say that to succeed, all it takes is passion in what you do, but I beg to differ. It's about cause and effect. You see, whatever we are good at in life, we are bound to be passionate about. If you are runninga successful business or doing what you excel in, you are bound to be passionate about it! So they key is to first be good at what you do. Then you will be passionate in doing it!" Joey put it to me.

"People are in love with the effect, but not the cause. The cause the most important part-are the tools required and the skills you need to hone to get what you want. So fall in love with the cause first and the process will lead to results," he stressed. This is a man who strongly believes that "passion is created and not found."

A sage for his young age (Joey is 36 this year), Joey went on to share a profound example. "Human beings are the only living beings that do not always reach their full potential. Take for example a tree. How tall is it grow? As tall as possible right? But not human beings. Often, we fall short of our destinies and stop growing. Growth has to be intentional. It doesn't happen just because you are living. We must have a plan to be a better version of ourselves be a better character. Being busy does not equate to growing."

"My fulfillment comes when I see lives transformed. When someone who is struggling in what they do and earn, for example, only 3000 a month goes on to be rich and happier from my consultation, I'm happy. Everybody can succeed, it's all about gleaning the useful information from the useless."

On the legacy he wishes to leave behind, Joey opined, "I'm in the business of transforming lives and I hope that's what I do. I also hope that people will remember my teachings. All this time this subject has been hard to understand because information on it is scarce and dispersed. Those who mastered it were either unwilling to share what they know or do not teach it well. It has been my passion to gather these bits and pieces (Joey is a prolific author) and make the subject available to all. I hope people can study it and transform lives. That is what I want to do so that I can live on through it."